Hedge Fund Investor Weighs in on Facebook Buy of WhatsApp for 19 Billion

Recently Message Replacement app WhatsApp, was bought by Facebook for 19 Billion dollars! WhatsApp is reported as having 450 Million users (twice the size of Twitter). The venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, invested 60 million to back this startup and now it's ROI will be worth about 3 Billion dollars say industry analyst reporting to the Wall Street Journal. This ranks as the largest-ever purchase of a company backed by venture capital.

I wonder if many people in the US ever heard of WhatsApp, or use it's service? I've never even heard of them before and they have 450 million users.

This goes to show you the international scope of social media and mobile apps.  A company can command 19 Billion dollars to buy it out and ironically very few people have heard of it in the US.

Hedge Fund & Tech Investor Philip Green

Philip Green, a hedge fund investor and consultant with a tech background said recently "I have been using WhatsApp for over three years, but I will admit it was introduced to me by my London and European contacts. I don't think any of my American friends use it or have even heard of it."

The WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum, is to join Facebook's Board of Directors, is now worth about 6.8 Billion dollars. I wondered if this buy is going to increase the value of Facebook?

However, some investors feel that protectionism is behind the move "it's similar to a record company signing an artist intentionally to keep them off the shelf".  But 19 billion is a lot to pay to shelf a company. This move for Facebook has to be about a ROI down the road.

For instance when the WhatsApp business gets to 1 Billion users paying $5 dollars a year for the service Facebook will handsomely recoup their investment. 

I also asked Green if he thought WhatApp is worth the investment for Facebook.  This is what he had to say "of course WhatsApp, is over-valued and not worth $19 Billion, especially since WhatsApp has barely made $20 million a year in revenue since its inception. But it's not about current worth, but exponential growth. Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook boys know what they are doing. Trust me."

For more info checkout the Wall Street Journal's site: 

Miguel Soares IT Expert

Also recently in the news: Google is always investing in programming/development enhancements like most tech companies, and is also into acquiring companies with advanced technology to advance it's ranking algorithm.  False clicks and impressions is a big problem for Google and other online media companies.

This is why Google buys a company known as Spider.io to help detect false ad impression activity created by bots.  I asked Miquel Soares, an IT project manager for top level corporations what he feels about this new tech buy from Google.

He stated "they are very nimble, and really leverage these companies to solve an issue. Resistance is futile. By detecting and eliminating the bots, they can promise their clients authentic clicks.  Google is also probably looking to get a competitive advantage over Yahoo and Bing." I agree with Soares this is a nimble move for Google.   For more info See the Full article

Kamau Austin

(c) AdPro Media Sales, Kamau Austin, Search Engine Buzz is written by Kamau Austin, for his online service Search Engine Plan.